Humbled Murdoch says sorry as protege Brooks quits

LONDON — Rupert Murdoch's scandal-rocked empire turned dramatically from defiance to contrition Friday as the media magnate accepted the resignation of his lieutenant Rebekah Brooks, said sorry to the public for his company's sins and made a humbling apology to the family of a murdered schoolgirl whose phone was hacked by the News of the World.

The moves represent a shift in strategy aimed at calming a storm that has knocked billions off the value of Murdoch's News Corp., scuttled his ambitions to take control of British Sky Broadcasting, withered his political power in Britain — and threatens to destabilize his globe-spanning business.

Just a day after saying in a newspaper interview that News Corp. had made only "minor mistakes," Murdoch signed an apology to run in Britain's national newspapers for "serious wrongdoing" by the News of the World, which shut down last week amid allegations of large-scale illegal hacking by its staff.

"We are sorry for the serious wrongdoing that occurred. We are deeply sorry for the hurt suffered by the individuals affected. We regret not acting faster to sort things out," said the full-page ad, signed by Murdoch and due to run in Saturday's editions of Britain's main national newspapers.

Murdoch promised "further concrete steps to resolve these issues and make amends for the damage they have caused."

Murdoch also met the family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, whose phone was hacked by the News of the World in 2002. The revelation that journalists had accessed her phone in search of scoops inflamed the long-simmering scandal about illegal eavesdropping by the newspaper

The 80-year-old mogul emerged from the meeting at a London hotel to catcalls of "shame on you" from hecklers. He said that "as founder of the company I was appalled to find out what had happened and I apologized."